A red decorator crab (Leptopsia setirostris) is being spied upon on this video. He is living upon, and decorated with, “zoanthid polyps (Zoanthus sociatus), close cousins to both sea anemones and corals. Zoanthus in Latin literally means ‘animal flower’. The species name sociatus refers to the fact they these flower animals live socially in dense groupings of identical polyps. Decorator crabs demonstrate a remarkably prescient instinct to be able process the information required to successfully camouflage themselves to match their preferred habitat.Unlike the typically fast-scuttling crabs of the mainstream, decorator crabs move at a deliberately slow pace to reduce being noticed.” Watch the excellent video from CoralMorphlogic.
via [coralmorphologic]
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